


What's in a Name

by SailorSol



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: False Memories, Family, Family Feels, Gen, Identity Issues, Mother-Son Relationship, two mothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2014-10-06
Packaged: 2018-02-20 03:47:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2413799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorSol/pseuds/SailorSol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry has a bit of an identity crisis after he gets his memories of Storybrooke back. After all, Henry Mills seems just as real to him as Henry Swan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's in a Name

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when I start thinking too closely about Storybrooke shenanigans. Henry's got the most twisted family tree in the history of ever; he could probably give anyone in the Marvelverse a run for their money.

_Henry Swan_

He stared at the name on the piece of paper. It was his name, had been his entire life.

Except…

_Henry Mills_

He scrawled the second name under the first. _This_ had been his name his entire life. He knew that, but he knew it the same way he knew he’d grown up in New York but hadn’t left Storybrooke until he was ten, borrowing Mary Margaret’s credit card to get to Boston.

He scowled, crumpling the piece of paper up. It bounced off the edge of the trash can when he threw it.

“What’s eating you, kid?”

Henry did _not_ jump in his seat, no matter what anyone else in the diner might have said. Ruby was smirking like she’d just told the funniest joke. Henry rolled his eyes at her to show her how unimpressed he was. “Nothing. It’s stupid.”

Ruby raised an eyebrow and slid into the booth across from him. “Wanna talk about it anyway? Not like it’s busy in here right now,” she added, gesturing around. Grumpy was the only other person in Granny’s at the moment, huddled over his cup of coffee at the counter.

“It’s stupid,” he repeated, slouching. “It’s not like I’m the only one who’s ever had this problem, not even the only one here in town!”

“Well, that leaves plenty of people who will understand, then, doesn’t it?”

He shredded the corner of a napkin. “When you remembered the truth… I mean, do you think of yourself as Red, or as Ruby?”

Ruby didn’t answer right away, which was one of the things that Henry liked about her. She could be short-tempered sometimes, but she could also be thoughtful and insightful. He supposed if he had to talk to anyone in town about this, she was one of his better choices. “Both, I guess,” she finally answered.

He sighed. That wasn’t a helpful answer. “But if you had to choose just one?”

She frowned at him. “Is this about us not telling you the truth about Storybrooke? Because if it is, I’m not sure I’m the right person to be talking to about that one.”

“No. I mean, not really. Not about you guys telling me,” he said.

“So?”

“So how do you deal with having two sets of memories? Am I Henry Mills who grew up the son of the mayor of Storybrooke, or am I Henry Swan, who grew up the son of a bail bondsman in New York?” he asked, throwing the remains of the napkin down onto the table in frustration. “I know the memories of growing up with Mo--Emma aren’t real, but they _feel_ real. But I still love my mom. Regina,” he sighed, almost more of a growl. “Both of them. They’re both my mothers, how am I supposed to choose?”

“Oh, kid,” Ruby said, moving to the same side of the booth as him to wrap an arm around his shoulders. He wasn’t a little kid any more, but Ruby had always kind of been like a big sister, sneaking him extra cookies and making sure his cocoa had cinnamon in it like he liked. “You don’t have to choose.”

“And what am I supposed to have on my driver’s license? Just ‘Henry’?”

Ruby laughed. “You’re thirteen, kid, you still have a few more years before you need to worry about that sort of thing.”

“And what am I supposed to tell my moms?”

“Okay, I can see how that might be a bit of a problem,” Ruby admitted. “What about something like Swan-Mills?”

Henry made a face. “Somehow I don’t think they’ll go for that. It makes it sound like they’re married.”

That made Ruby laugh. “Yeah, you’re probably right about that one. You could ask them, though.”

“Or I could just tell them I’m going to change my name to Henry Gold and watch them both try and blow up Mr. Gold’s shop,” Henry replied.

Ruby laughed again. “Everyone in town likes you, but I don’t think you’d be very popular if you started that war. Even if it would be worth it to see Gold’s face when he found out why Emma and Regina were both after his hide this time. But seriously, why not talk to them? Or Mary Margaret or David?”

“Yeah, because that won’t end with another town-wide war,” Henry said dryly. “They all mean well, but how many people do you think would encourage me to keep my mom’s—Regina’s—last name?”

“You’d be surprised,” Ruby said. “We all still remember you as Henry Mills, after all.”

“Great. That’s real helpful. Maybe you’re right, maybe I should just not use a last name.”

“You could always pick a completely neutral name for yourself. Like Smith. I don’t think there are any Smiths in town,” Ruby said.

“But your last name is supposed to be about who you are, isn’t it? I mean, like… where you came from, who your family is?” Henry asked.

“We didn’t have last names in the Enchanted Forest,” she replied with a shrug. “Or most of us didn’t. Do you think Mary Margaret feels like she has to change her last name from Blanchard to Nolan just so people will know that they’re family? Or that Emma would change her last name?”

“I guess not,” Henry said reluctantly. “But it’s different for me, and I don’t want to hurt anyone just because of some stupid curse and some fake memories.”

“You gotta do what’s right for you. Both your mothers love you, they’re not going to care whose last name you take, as long as you love them both back.”

Ruby was probably right about that, but Henry still felt reluctant to choose one last name over another. “I should probably get going. I promised Mary Margaret that I would watch the baby this afternoon.”

She got out of the booth so Henry could get up, patting him once on the shoulder before he headed out of the diner. A few years ago, none of this would have been a problem; it was just him and his mom, and while Henry wasn’t always happy, he never doubted that he’d been loved.

Not that he doubted that now, but he suddenly had a lot more family than he was used to. Before Pan’s curse, it hadn’t been nearly as confusing. Regina was his mom and Emma was also his mom but they were still getting to know each other. Even without the fake memories, he’d spent a year in New York as Emma’s son, just the two of them, and it all got so… confusing.

He sighed as he climbed the steps to the loft apartment. With the baby, things had been getting crowded; he’d have to talk to his mom about finding their own place. Or maybe moving into the house with his other mom. It was plenty big enough for all of them, and Henry missed his room. He grinned at that thought; if he could convince Emma and Regina to share a house, maybe he could convince them to let him hyphenate his last name after all.

“Oh good, I was starting to get worried,” Mary Margaret said, pulling Henry into a hug as he came through the door. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, sure, I was just talking to Ruby for a bit,” he replied. “Is Neal napping?”

Mary Margaret nodded. “He just ate, so he should be fine for a while. Thank you again for agreeing to watch him for me,” she said.

Henry shrugged. “That’s what family is for, right?” That earned him a grin and another hug, before Mary Margaret bustled out of the apartment, leaving Henry alone. He went into the bedroom to check on his sleeping uncle.

“Let’s hope you grow up to have a more normal life than the rest of us,” Henry told the baby. “But when it comes time to figure out your family tree, don’t ask me. At least you’ve only got one mom and one dad.”

Neal huffed softly in his sleep, and Henry frowned. Walsh had almost become his stepfather, and Hook seemed interested in dating his mom, and his other mom was definitely dating Robin Hood, but Henry still only had one dad. He grinned to himself, carefully stroking the fluff on the baby’s head.

“ _Henry Cassidy_.”


End file.
